Splintered herself across an army.
Made herself smaller so they could rise.
Made herself vulnerable so they could survive.
His jaw clenched.
His chest ached.
But gods, of course she had.
That was Maris.
The girl who never flinched from pain.
Who stitched herself back together again and again, just to keep others from breaking.
The woman who had been made a weapon by fate, and chose to become a shield.
He looked across the glowing battlefield now and saw not just an army but a reflection of her.
She was in all of them.
As he cut through a line of undead warriors a burst of light shattered the sky.
The flare surged like a sun detonating across the Veil, sending shadows reeling and screams echoing into the clouds.
His heart stopped.
Maris.
She was burning.
Kael didn’t hesitate.
Didn’t think.
He ran.
The ground shook beneath him. Shadows lifted him like wings. His crown of obsidian reformed above his head, jagged and wild.
He didn’t stop for monsters.
He didn’t stop for gods.
He ran toward the light like it was life itself.
Because it was. Because she was.
Chapter seventy-five
The Goddess and the Girl
-Maris-
The world behind her was chaos.
Blood and fire. Lightning and screams. A battlefield carved from prophecy and pain.
